DISH ISN’T HAPPY WITH GENACHOWSKI’S ORDER — FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is circulating a proposal that would give DISH the ability to enter the wireless marketplace — but DISH isn’t thrilled about the order. Although DISH needs the FCC to change some of its rules to get into the business, the company thinks Genachowski’s proposal is too restrictive. At issue is the part of the proposal that would place a limit on the power level the company can use for some of the frequencies, so the new service will not interfere with a neighboring 10 MHz set of frequencies known as the H-block. “While the FCC would grant full terrestrial rights, its proposal to lower our power and emissions levels could cripple our ability to enter the business," said R. Stanton Dodge, DISH executive vice president and general counsel. (The story from Brooks Boliek, ICYMI: http://politico.pro/TeNyKL)

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"The good news is that this proposed order is not final, and we urge Chairman Genachowski and the commissioners to recognize that the DISH plan delivers on the greatest public interest — the most investment, the most jobs and the most spectrum," Dodge said.

--DISH BLAMES SPRINT: The company also says one of its potential competitors mucked up the works by convincing Genachowski that there needs to be a buffer between the AWS frequencies and the H block. Congress directed the FCC to auction the H block with the proceeds going to FirstNet — the nationwide public safety network. "Sprint's position on the H Block would render useless 25 percent of DISH's uplink spectrum — so that Sprint is positioned to merely gain the exact same amount of spectrum," Dodge said. "This is a zero-sum approach that does not result in a net spectrum gain for the American consumer when the wireless economy needs access to all available spectrum. Nor does this approach add jobs."

--SPRINT SAYS IT ISN’T THE BAD GUY: “We are pleased that the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward to adopt rules for the [DISH] spectrum,” Sprint said in its statement. “We remain hopeful that the commissioners will decide to support DISH’s plans to build a new wireless network, while taking the steps necessary to protect Sprint’s PCS spectrum holdings and other adjacent [H block] terrestrial spectrum, and welcome the commission’s plans to auction the adjacent spectrum.”

GENACHOWSKI CIRCULATES 3.5 GHZ SPECTRUM PROPOSAL — FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is also circulating a proposal at the agency that could increase the usefulness of the WiMax band. The proposal circulated today would enable commercial use of 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band as well as spectrum sharing. "While protecting government missions that are vital to our national interest, this proposal promotes two major advances that enable more efficient use of radio spectrum: small cells and spectrum sharing," Genachowski said in a statement.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RETRANS RANCH — The American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable and DISH told the FCC some local TV stations are playing fast and loose with the rules. They want the commission to tighten up the rules for regulations covering separately owned, same-market local TV stations that coordinate their retransmission consent negotiations with pay-TV distributors.

“Local television stations that cannot lawfully merge under the commission’s local television rules are nonetheless coordinating their retransmission consent negotiations with MVPDs,” the companies told the commission. “They are doing so through both a variety of formal agreements and the use of various informal practices, all of which reduce local competition, evidenced by the fact that the participating stations are able to raise prices above levels achievable through individual negotiations.” http://politico.pro/Sdf3lm

AND: CTIA AND NAB WANT MORE TIME ON INCENTIVE AUCTION RULEMAKING — CTIA and the NAB have jointly asked the FCC to give them more time to respond to its notice of proposed rulemaking on the incentive auction. Currently the deadline is Dec. 21 for initial comments and Feb. 19 for replies. The trade associations asked for an extra month, so that initial comments would be due Jan. 25 and replies on March 26. http://bit.ly/Ta80cw

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re taking a couple of days off to enjoy the holiday and consume an unreasonable amount of food. MT will be back in your inbox on Monday. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving! And if anything happens over the weekend that we should know about, get in touch: jkamen@politico.com or @ jesskamen. Find the crew’s contact info below today’s Speed Read and find Pro on Twitter @ POLITICOPro.

HALEY WRITES IRS ON DATA PROTECTION; IRS RESPONDS — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is asking the Internal Revenue Service to strengthen its data security protocols — specifically, the agency should require the encryption of social security data, Haley told reporters at a news conference Tuesday about the state’s massive data breach (details here: http://politico.pro/Ui6hD4). The IRS responded to her comments in a statement to MT: “Protecting taxpayer data is our top priority at the IRS. We have many different systems with a variety of safeguards — including encryption — to protect taxpayer data. The IRS has in a place a robust cybersecurity of technology, people and processes to monitor IRS systems and networks. We work closely with the states to ensure the protection of federal tax data. We have a long list of requirements for states to handle and protect federal tax information. Just as importantly, we expect the states to follow the standards of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. We just received the letter from Gov. Haley, and we will be reviewing it.”

MICROSOFT-MOTOROLA TRIAL WRAPS UP — The closely watched patent trial between Microsoft and Motorola Mobility concluded in Seattle yesterday afternoon, and closing arguments in the form of post-trial briefs are due to the court on Dec. 14. The long-running lawsuit focuses on how much a patent holder can charge for technology considered part of an industry standard. Judge James Robart is expected to issue a decision in the spring.

** A message from FairSearch.org: What’s at stake in the FTC’s investigation of Google? Innovation. Consumer choice. The future of small business. Google’s founders say they’re committed to “unbiased and objective” search results, but Google’s actions suggest otherwise. See how small businesses are harmed: http://fairsearch.org/ftcinvestigation.**

ANOTHER U.S. AGENCY DROPS THE BLACKBERRY — The National Transportation Safety Board is ditching the RIM’s BlackBerry for Apple's iPhone 5, the latest in a growing number of government agencies that have decided to drop the device. BlackBerry devices have been "failing both at inopportune times and at an unacceptable rate," the NTSB wrote. The 400-employee agency "requires effective, reliable and stable communication capabilities to carry out its primary investigative mission and to ensure employee safety in remote locations." From Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/TeULKE

REPORT: FTC SAID TO WAVER ON GOOGLE — “Google may skirt the most serious antitrust allegations under investigation by the U.S. as regulators waver on whether they can prove consumers are hurt by the way the company ranks its search results,” Bloomberg reports, citing “three people familiar with the matter.” “Federal Trade Commission officials are unsure they have enough evidence to sue Google successfully under antitrust laws for giving its own services top billing and pushing down the offerings of rivals, said the people who declined to be identified because the discussions aren’t public,” according to the report. http://bloom.bg/QtQofH

ICYMI: HP SAYS IT WAS DUPED — From The Wall Street Journal: “Hewlett-Packard Co. said on Tuesday it had been duped into overpaying for one of its largest acquisitions, contributing to an $8.8 billion write-down and a huge quarterly loss. The technology giant said that an internal investigation had revealed 'serious accounting improprieties' and 'outright misrepresentations' in connection with U.K. software maker Autonomy, which HP acquired for $11.1 billion in October 2011. ... Michael Lynch, Autonomy's founder and former CEO, fired back hours later, denying improper accounting and accusing HP of trying to hide its mismanagement.” The full story: http://on.wsj.com/S9J5bp

VAN HOLLEN PROMOTES LEVIN, HUNDT — It never hurts to get a little PR from admirers on Capitol Hill. Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen sent a Dear Colleague letter yesterday promoting a new book by former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and broadband guru Blair Levin called "The Politics of Abundance." “Drawing on lessons learned from the boom years of the Clinton administration, Hundt and Levin argue for an investment-led approach to economic growth, job creation and debt reduction — with special emphasis on the unprecedented opportunity they see in our technology and clean energy sectors,” the letter states. Van Hollen told MT: “Reed Hundt is a constituent and thought leader who has been doing great work on technology and clean energy issues for decades, and his book sheds important light on some of the key issues facing our nation.”

SPEED READ:

NEW PLAYER IN THE EU DATA PRIVACY BATTLE: Alan Shatter, Ireland’s minister of justice, equality and defense, is working with European lawmakers to craft a data privacy law that supports digital commerce while protecting EU citizens, The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/TPb24c

DEMOCRATS PUSH TO REDEPLOY OBAMA’S VOTER DATABASE: Democrats are pressing to expand and redeploy the most sophisticated voter list in history, beginning with next year’s gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, The Washington Post reports: http://wapo.st/TXfdx2

TIME WARNER LEADS $40 MILLION MAKER STUDIOS ROUND: Time Warner is leading a big round of financing for Maker Studios, a startup that specializes in creating and distributing clips for the video company, AllThingsD reports: http://dthin.gs/UHUJHl

BEST BUY RESULTS WORSE THAN EXPECTED: The consumer-electronics retailer swung to a third-quarter loss and projected sharply lower cash flow for the year, The Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/WjgZsm

** A message from FairSearch.org: Think Google should pick winners and losers in the online marketplace? Through search bias, that’s exactly what’s happening. Google changes its search algorithm regularly, often with devastating effects on small businesses and content creators. Online entrepreneurs have no way of appealing these decisions or getting Google to explain how to reverse the penalties against them. But that’s not all. Google also biases the display of results to put its own products, like Google+, Flight Search, Maps, Places, News, and Shopping, ahead of natural search results through a policy of which most consumers are not aware. Search bias makes it harder for small businesses to compete and win in the online marketplace, and it hurts consumers and innovation. Learn how Google has hurt small businesses at http://fairsearch.org/ftcinvestigation. As the Federal Trade Commission completes its investigation, remember this: For small businesses and consumers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. **

About The Author

Jess Kamen is a technology reporter for POLITICO Pro and the author of Morning Tech. She was a Web producer for Pro for more than a year, and previously worked as a freelance writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kamen has a bachelor's in political science from Johns Hopkins University and has toured the U.S. several times as the lead singer and guitarist in a punk-rock band.